Resumen
- Colombia is the world’s fourthlargest banana exporter (Musa AAA Simmonds) and the seventh-largest sugar exporter (Saccharum officinarum). These products are of great economic importance both for export and local consumption. Seventy percent of production is from the central region where coffee is also grown (Belalcázar 1991, 1992). Banana and sugar cane plantations are often side by side. The two crops are also combined in other countries (Daniells et al. 1995).The only virus disease of banana observed in Colombia is banana mosaic (Belalcázar 1991; Castaño et al. 1995a, 1995b), caused by cucumber mosaic virus (CMV). The virus disease affecting the sugar economy is cane mosaic, caused by a potyvirus (Richard et al. 1989).